Saturday, February 9, 2013

Back in the groove at SAIT.

Thirteen years ago this month I started teaching at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in the Continuing Education department. I taught one class that year, Wedding Photography. It is amazing to see how far I have come since that first foray in to the field of education.

I had been doing small workshops for a few years prior, but SAIT gave me an opportunity to have a more steady position and to help grow the program. After this first course I added classes in Basic Studio Lighting, Advanced Studio Lighting and most recently The History, Art and Culture of Photography. With the experience I gained at SAIT I have since been able to do lectures to a diverse grop of corporations and organizations. This past year I did a series at a number of Calgary Public Libraries and this spring will do a course for Senior Citizens at the Kerby Centre.

I had never intended to become a teacher and if you had told me prior to my attending the Alberta College of Art and Design that I would find this career I would not have believed you. I say this because I was not a confident public speaker and fairly shy. Yet I have grown over the years to develop these skills and thus am able to share my experiences and knowledge with others.

I find myself back into the groove of teaching after my trip to India with classes in Wedding Photography and Basic Studio Lighting now underway. Though the classes are smaller then usual, I once again have a fine group of students. This is one of the biggest bonuses I have in my job, the chance to meet so many fine people. I can honestly say that over the last 13 years that I have only had a handful of people who I did not enjoy.

Those who have taken my classes know that I like to give as much hands on to the students as I can. This generally means that I don't shoot many photo's myself. Today though with the smaller group it allowed me to work with the lovely Tiffany and to shoot a few more images then I would with a larger class. I share one here that was shot with the Canon 7D and 24-70 f2.8 lens.

If you are interested in taking classes at SAIT go to www.sait.ca and look under the photography section of the Continuing Education tab.